Richard Irvine-Brown

@richib.bsky.social

6072 Followers 703 Following

Portfolio: https://www.clippings.me/users/richardirvinebrown Journo. BBC Verify. Digital investigative journalism since 2014, cars/money data before, BBC Sport 2007-2011.

People inspect a burning boat at a harbour next to a steep and sandy hill in Banud, Iran
Screengrab from Mehr News Agency, showing a desert coastal area with thick black smoke rising from one spot.
Author’s own Transformers Robots In Disguise Side Burn, Supercharged Mode, a red Dodge Viper with flame motif and chrome gold hubcaps is balanced on the head of Transformers Classics Ultra Magnus, a stocky white robot with blue truck windows on its chest.
Author’s own copies of Transformers The Movie reissue Generation 1 Hot Rod; a futuristic sports car in magenta with a yellow spoiler and a yellow flame decal on an orange bonnet. Next to it is Transformers Robots In Disguise Side Burn Supercharged Mode, a red Dodge Viper with chromed exposed engine and a yellow-to-orange flame decal on the bonnet. Both cars are absolutely mint.
Screengrab from a social media video showing a vehicle burning in the foreground, with a two-storey building with tall windows and a terracotta roof nearby.
Screengrab from a social media video filmed over central Damascus. It shows several multistorey buildings with large solar panels (highlighted) on their roofs. A plume of smoke is beyond them and the white dome of a mosque can be seen beyond that.
Screengrab of social media video filmed over central Damascus. There are many smaller buildings in the foreground, and larger buildings in the middle ground. It is a clear day. A tall building, the Damascus Tower, has been highlighted, as has another tall building with a staggered facade, and a dome and minarets in the background.
Screengrab from social media video showing a very wide road through Damascus, with people walking around. Palm trees, a terracotta-roofed building and the many domes of the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya are in the background.
Screengrab from a social media video. It shows the seven-storey concrete building of the al-Bustan Hotel, next to the two-storey ornate building of the Ministry of Tourism, on a clear day in Damascus, Syria. There is a fire beside the hotel.
Iranian flight lands in Zurich As well as tracking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, we’ve also been monitoring what may be a flight carrying an Iranian delegation to Switzerland, ahead of diplomatic talks tomorrow. We followed a Meraj flight from Tehran to Zurich, touching down at 22:14 local time (20:14 UTC) this evening. It's not clear who was aboard, but Iranian state media has reported that a group of national officials had departed this afternoon. Meraj is an airline identified by the US, and sanctioned, as being used by the Iranian government. It is also listed by aviation market intelligence company the Centre for Aviation as a "VIP charter carrier, offering services to the Heads of State and Government of Iran". The airplane used has the registration EP-SSM and is logged on Flightradar24 as having made flights in the past fortnight to several Iranian cities including Rasht and Najaf, as well as international return flights to Istanbul on 11 June and Moscow on 12 June. It is scheduled to fly from Zurich to Geneva later tonight.
Some tankers appear to have passed through the strait today While several vessels appear to have made U-turns around the Strait of Hormuz today, the latest tracking data shows at least five tankers appear to have passed through the Strait. The Bitumen Star, listed as an asphalt/bitumen tanker, and Petrel 1, listed as an oil/chemical tanker, appear to have transited the strait today (they each began transmitting AIS data while already in the middle of the strait) by the northern route. The former appeared in the strait around 10:30 UTC (11:30 BST, 14:30 local) and exited the western side around 13:45, with the latter following about an hour behind. Meanwhile, three vessels - the Mombasa B, Al Salam and Al Bateen - all listed as types of oil tanker, each appeared at the eastern end of the southern route between 09:30 and 10:30, and appeared to transit the strait, all having left on the western side by 12:10. However, Bahrain Prosperity appeared in the middle of the southern route around 12:45, but stopped while approaching the western edge of the strait at 14:15 without moving further, then disappearing by 15:15.
Tracking ships turning back in the Strait of Hormuz published at 19:05 20 June Monitoring shipping activity in the Strait of Hormuz, using maritime tracking website MarineTraffic, can be challenging as some vessels suddenly appear and disappear, likely because their AIS trackers are turned on or off. But there are some journeys worth noting. Five vessels look as though they have made sudden about-turns earlier today, two of which have stopped near the western edge of the strait according to the latest data. For example, the Lumina Ocean appeared on the western edge of the strait around 12:45 UTC (13:45 BST, 16:15 local), close to the time of Iran’s announcement. It was following the northern route through the waterway but made a 180-degree turn around 14:30 before appearing to stop at the western edge where it remains, edging slightly north, at time of writing. Tracking data shows another tanker, the Abu Dhabi III, approached the western side of the strait along the southern route around 10:00 and also appeared to U-turn, stop at the western edge at approximately 14:00, and then disappear from the tracking data around 14:45. Later, the Gulf Sunrise and Monaco Loyalty were seen to make the same adjustment and leave the strait in the opposite way to their original headings. Also on the southern route, the Titan Harmony is notable for entering the strait around 05:30, making a 180-degree turn at 07:30 (long before the announcement) and leaving by 10:30.
Screengrab of a satellite image of the drums of Kapotnya Oil Refinery, the buildings of an adjacent shopping centre, a nearby motorway curving past them both and the woods and industrial-commercial areas beyond. Two green lines have been drawn on, one from the centre of the picture to the refinery, the other from the bottom right to the refinery, where they converge. These indicate known points of view of videos showing the trajectory of a missile, her estimated by a white arrow pointing at the refinery. A motorway junction flyover has been marked with a yellow box.
Screengrab from a social media video showing a man firing a Manpads shoulder-mounted missile launcher as the moment the missile leaves the launcher. They are stood on a motorway flyover on a cloudy day with the chimneys of Kapotnya Oil Refinery visible in the background. A large red arrow and the word 'Refinery' indicates this.
Screengrab from Yandex Maps showing streetview (top) of motorway junction, with angular buildings and a glass walkway around many lanes of roadway under a blue but cloudy sky. Bottom is a satellite image of the same spot, showing the position and the direction (north) of view.
Composite image of four screengrabs from a social media video showing a man holding a Manpads (shoulder-mounted rocket launcher), the flame from the back of the launcher, the missile in the air, the missile flying away leaving a trail of smoke.
Google satellite image of Kapotnya area of Moscow, showing part of the oil refinery (top left of screen) and green lines showing two known points of view of a projectile hitting the refinery from a nearby carpark and over the top of an industrial-commercial site.
Screengrab from Yandex Maps showing (top) streetview at an open-air car park, looking west toward Kapotnya Oil Refinery. We see shopfronts in a cream and terracotta building, pylons, a construction site, large pipes crossing the car park, a blue-bannered car parking booth, and cars on the roads around the car park. Bottom is the satellite view, showing hundreds of cars, parked, and a blue blob indicating position and direction of the view.
Composite image of four screengrabs from a social media video showing the transit of a projectile through a smoky sky into the Kapotnya Oil Refinery (unseen), then a smoke plume and flipping top of a silo, seen beyond a modern concrete building.
Satellite image of the many drums or silos at the Kapotnya Oil Refinery in Moscow, with three yellow lines and one blue line converging on a single point.
Screengrab from a social media post showing fires at the Kapotnya Oil Refinery in Moscow. Among the chimneys of the refinery, great smoke plumes fill the air. Among the many industrial and commercial buildings in the foreground is a bright yellow buildings comprising at least two structures and a tower.
Composite image of four frames from a social media video showing a projectile arcing through a smoke-filled sky before dropping into the Kapotnya Oil Refinery, with the silo explosion seen in the bottom right image. The projectile has been highlighted in the first two images and the smoke trail in the second two.
Screengrab from a social media video showing the top of a silo at the Kapotnya Oil Refinery in mid-air, seen past a tall concrete wall, lamppost and a couple of young trees.
Screengrab of satellite image from Google Maps, high angle and tilted, showing the east end of a Moscow park, the side near the Kapotnya oil refinery. Pylon-like structures in the park and the area of the refinery where at least one drum exploded have been marked yellow and red, respectively.
Screengrab from a social media video, focusing on the golden dome of the Church of the Holy Blessed Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia of Murom in Marino, a park with a winding path and many trees in the midground, and the Kapotnya Oil Refinery, Moscow, beyond.
Screengrab of social media video looking east across a park at the Kapotnya Moscow oil refinery. A silo has exploded, sending a plume and its lid flying through the air.
Screengrabs from a social media video arranged as a panorama, showing a car park, a dual carriageway, tall buildings, and a large grass verge in a southeast Moscow suburb. The floor is shiny with a dark substance.
Upcoming fixtures for the 2026 World Cup, showing games at 11pm, 2am and 5am.
My hand holding Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins. It has an azure blue cover with Rollins’ playing sax in silhouette on it.
Top: View along coast at Fujairah, beach in the foreground, siloes and cranes in the background. Bottom: Screengrab from social media video showing giant plume of smoke beyond the same siloes and cranes.
Panorama made from screengrabs from social media video showing fire at the Port of Fujairah, with the silhouette of the hills and mountains of Fujairah in the background. Below it is a screengrab from Google Streetview from a road to the west of the port. One peak and one ridge line have been marked to match the panorama. There is also a screengrab from a satellite image of Fujairah, tilted. The cranes at the port, plus another ridge have been marked, again to match the panorama.
Screengrab from Nasa Firms, showing heat anomalies in northern Fujairah, detected by satellite at 2316 (local time), 4 May
A BBC live page post titled Verified videos show large fire at UAE's Fujairah port on Monday night, and with a video embedded showing a fire at the port BBC Verify has examined two videos showing a fire at the port of Fujairah in United Arab Emirates, which emerged online shortly after local officials reported an Iranian drone attack on Monday night. One video shows a water-pumping vessel attempting to douse a large fire, which we confirmed was filmed on board a vessel to the north of the port by identifying the pattern of nearby hills and the cranes on site in satellite and street view imagery. The second shows a dark smoke plume spilling into the sky, which we located as being filmed from the coast to the south through the same cranes and identifying a series of large, connected silos nearby.
BBC graphicised map of Sangere Mapindi, Nigeria. In the south-west of town is a locator reading 'Damage at church', in the south is one reading 'Inspection at field', and to the south-east is an indicator reading 'Burnt motorcycles at school'. A locator map is in the top corner, showing Sangere Mapindi is in the north east of Nigeria.
Top, screengrab from TVC News, showing a man in a dark blue shirt pointing toward a pale building, with a nearby wall and tree highlighted. Middle, satellite image of the church at Sangere Mapindi in Nigeria, from Google Earth. Bottom, detail from photograph shared by Adamawa Governor's office, showing a man in a suit near the church, with a tree and a rooftop behind him. In all three, matching details have been highlighted.
Photograph shared by Adamawa Governor's office, showing several men in suits or local fine clothes, and one woman in a brightly-coloured full-body dress, outside the church at Sangere Mapindi.
A panorama of screengrabs taken from a social media video showing the aftermath in Sangere Mapindi. It shows several men in suits and uniforms marching across a wide open space. Buildings, a tree and fences have been highlighted around the edge of the field. Next to it is a screengrab of a satellite image from Google Earth showing the location in Sangere Mapindi, Nigeria, with the same elements highlighted.
Collage of (left) detail from Facebook post of burned motorcycles in dirt yard with trees and low-storey buildings in the background; (centre) satellite image from Apple Maps of Balwhona Primary School, Sangere Mapindi; (right) screengrab from social media video showing dignitaries inspecting the site. Across the images, three trees and four buildings have been marked to show how they match.
Screengrab from Google Maps satellite imagery showing locations of Guyaku and Balwhona Primary School (four kilometres to the southeast), which have been highlighted.
Photo posted by Adamawa Governor's office, showing armed men inspecting the scene of several burned out motorcycles among a parade of green-leafed trees, with an open dirt yard in the background, then several single-storey buildings.
Screengrab of Facebook post. It reads: FINTIRI LEADS RESPONSE AS 29 KILLED IN ADAMAWA COMMUNITY ATTACK Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has confirmed that no fewer than 29 people were killed in a deadly attack on Guyaku community in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, describing the incident as tragic and unacceptable. The governor disclosed the figure during an on-the-spot assessment of the affected community, where he also condoled with bereaved families and assured residents of the government’s commitment to improving security. During his visit, Governor Fintiri reiterated his administration’s resolve to work with security agencies to prevent a recurrence and restore normalcy to the area. The atmosphere in the community remains tense, with grief and fear evident among residents, particularly women, children, and the elderly, many of whom have abandoned their homes over concerns of further attacks. Community leader, Kumo Gombi, Aggrey Ali said the attackers operated for several hours, killing dozens of residents, burning places of worship, and destroying property including motorcycles. The screengrab includes an image of dignitaries stood together, and of motorcycles burned.
A composite image of (top) hill range seen in a social media video of bright explosions in Isfahan at night, and (bottom) the same hill range seen on Google Earth. Both have been marked up with numbers 1 through 5 to show matching location.
Composite image of (top) two screengrabs from a social media video showing bright explosions in Isfahan, one seen beyond the dome and minarets of Mosalla Mosque, the other seen beyond the Soffeh Mountain Park; (bottom) screengrabs from Google Earth showing satellite pictures of the mosque and the mountain park.
Composite picture of (top) screengrab from social media video showing red smoke and fire beyond a dark range of hills at night in Iran; (bottom) the same location as seen on Google Earth.
Videos from Isfahan show likelihood of weapons storage sites being targeted By Richard Irvine-Brown and Joshua Cheetham BBC Verify is continuing to analyse videos showing a series of explosions at Isfahan, in central Iran. One video, which has also been shared by US President Donald Trump, shows fire and smoke from an explosion, followed by several secondary blasts. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference an "ammo depot" was "struck by US bombers". We've located the blast to a walled-off compound between two air bases on the south side of the city. We shared this and other videos we've verified with experts who agree they show weapons storage facilities being struck. Experts at McKenzie Intelligence Services and the International Institute of Strategic Studies point out the secondary blasts are evidence of munitions "cooking off" where they explode due to the heat caused by an explosion. Jackie Akhavan, professor of explosive chemistry at Cranfield University, said although there were no visible shock waves from high explosives the brown smoke seen in some videos "is evidence of nitrous oxide which is produced when a high explosive burns". According to the defence intelligence company Janes and Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute, targeting such facilities - likely to be underground - would require US heavy-penetration "bunker-buster" bombs.
Isfahan explosions so big they were seen by weather satellite published at 18:52 31 March 18:52 31 March By Barbara Metzler and Richard Irvine-Brown Some of the explosions near Isfahan in central Iran last night were so large they could be seen on weather satellite images, which can detect sudden changes in the level of light over large areas. BBC Verify has analysed imagery from Meteosat-12, which shows cloud drifting over the city in central Iran before a white flash appears. Frames from the feed show the light at 22:30 and 22:40 GMT (02:30 and 02:40 local time), suggesting there were fires or a series of explosions lasting over a period of at least 10 minutes. While the flash itself appears small, the fires or smoke plumes which caused it must have been significant enough for it to register on the imagery. In the most zoomed in version of the Meteosat-12 feed, each pixel covers 1 sq km (0.4 sq miles). Here’s a before and after image of two frames for you to compare: IMAGE: Satellite view over Isfahan in black and white.
Four toy robots, all Transformers, with visible toy car parts on them. Two are yellow and two are red, posed on an off-white background.
Composite image of Nico O'Reilly of Manchester City looking very happy after scoring against Arsenal in the League Cup Final, juxtaposed with Jake Wood, as Max Branning, looking lost and sad.
Post by Fergal Keane on LinkedIn: I had the pleasure of drawing on the expertise of Richard Irvine-Brown today for a piece about Iran. So, you know those brains in the great tv detective series, the ones who work in forensics, and the cop asks them if they can crack a case and magically they do. Richard is that brain. Thank you to him and all the people in our Verify and Osint teams. That capacity for analysis and checking has been one of the great evolutions in my years in journalism. I will miss working with people like that when I leave at the end of May.
An award. A perspex hexagon reading: Beehive News, Top News Writers of 2025, Richard Irvine-Brown, is hereby recognised for his excellence in journalism, Top War & Conflict Writer, Overall
Composite image of (left) screengrab from social media video showing impact of delta-wing projectile, a high and thin plume of smoke rises beyond a small lake in green countryside, the lake and two pylons in the distance have been highlighted; (centre) a grab from Google Maps satellite view of the lake, showing the empty countryside, with the lake and two pylons highlighted, plus an area of rocky fields to the southeast; right, another screengrab from the video showing green countryside, distant tree line and far distant hills under blue sky, the rocky fields have been highlighted to match the satellite picture.
Composite image: Top left and bottom, screengrabs from Iranian Red Crescent Society video showing destruction, including debris in a car park and a ruined building facade, in Mahabad, Iran. Top centre is a screengrab from Google Maps satellite view highlighting two buildings seen in the background of the video. Top right is a Google Photo of a book shop in Mahabad, with an orange and white sign above the entrance. An arrow has been drawn to connect the sign to the sign seen in the video screengrab.
Composite image of, left, Google Photo of Mahdi Hospital, Tehran, Iran, and right, image from overnight 5/6 March 2026 showing smoke rising in Tehran, with Mahdi Hospital highlighted.
Screengrab of Nabatieh region, Lebanon, on Google Maps satellite imagery. It shows the hilly countryside around the city. The three towns of Toul, Kfar Roummane and Kfar Tebnit have had their names highlighted and lines drawn between them to show a triangle around Nabatieh.
Panorama view taken from screengrabs of a social media video of destruction on a main road, including the partial collapse of a building, in Toul, southern Lebanon, 5 March 2026.
Panorama of three screenshots from the same social media video showing damage to a site in Kfar Tebnit, southern Lebanon, 5 March 2026.
Composite image of (left) social media video of car on fire; (right) screengrab from Google streetview near Zahle, Lebanon. Both show a road, clear sky and buildings either side. Both have had a red-faced, double-pitch-roof building, an advertising building and the north facade of another building highlighted to show matches between the two.
Screengrab from a social media video showing people attending a car on fire near Zahle, Lebanon, morning of 5 March 2026.